A Spoonful of Honey
by Malfoy Mouth James- MMJ
Summary: It's difficult enough to like a girl, much more so when you're a werewolf and the girl you seem to have fallen for has a burning hatred for all magical creatures. But she's a queen at potions- it's no wonder James and Sirius have brought her on as their prank potioneer. If only the wolf inside would quiet down, then maybe he'd have a better chance of staying in the shadows.
1. Chapter 1

"Goodbye, darling." Tina Scamander told her granddaughter, hugging her close and pressing a kiss to her cheek. "We'll see you at Christmas. Be good."

"Of course, Gran." Honey Scamander replied, sighing and casting a longing glance at the train.

"We don't have to worry about her, Tina. It's her brother I'm worried about." Newt joked, slinging an arm around his grandson.

"Look, it was one time-"

"That's what they all say." The ex auror said with a smile as she gave her grandson a hug as well. "I expect no letters home from professors this year. Now, on the train, both of you."

_Thank Merlin,_ Honey thought. Not that she didn't love her grandparents, she just wanted to get on the damn train.

"Goodbye! I'll write! Love you both!" The seventh year said as she picked up her bags.

"Goodbye you two! We'll miss you!" Tina yelled after them as they raced to the Hogwarts Express.

"Ha! I win!" Ezra yelled triumphantly as he pushed his way onto the train ahead of his sister.

"Only because you _cheated_. You can't push, Ezra."

"Of course I can. There's no rule book for racing."

Honey rolled her eyes and pushed him back with her shoulder, heading towards an empty cabin. She had a few books she still needed to finish before she got to Hogwarts.

She pulled her wand out and flicked her wrist, levitating her trunk up to the storage rack as she sat down against the window. She started with the book she was closest to finishing, an autobiography on the man who created the draught of living death.

Or she _would_ have, if those bumbling 'marauders' hadn't gone traipsing by, creating a ruckus. Honey gritted her teeth and glared at them through the glass, until they pushed each other on, leaving her once again in blessed silence.

Which, unfortunately- _if you asked Honey Scamander, anyways_\- didn't carry over into the dinning hall as they watched all the first years line up and wait for their turn to be sorted. Just because they were mostly silent, out of fear most likely, didn't mean any of the other years were going to be quiet.

Honey sat in the same spot at the Ravenclaw table that she had sat in the last six years, waiting for dinner to come. Don't get her wrong, the sorting is a beautiful thing; she'll _never_ forget the moment she was sorted into her house. But couldn't they at least serve dinner at the same time? If they were smart, they would be practical and timely. Was it really that hard?

At least she brought her book.

* * *

Halfway across the room James was staring at Lily, as he usually did, and Sirius was chatting up some random muggle born girl, _as he usually did._

And Remus was also nose deep in a book.

"Mate, why don't you get your head out of the clouds, and find a girl to run around with, hm?" Sirius said to Remus, ignoring the girl who was now playing with his tie. "It's our last year at Hogwarts, and you haven't even gone on a single date."

Remus flashed him a look over his book but didn't respond.

"Leave the poor bloke alone, Padfoot." James said before also turning to look at Remus. "He's not wrong, though."

Remus sighed and shook his head. "You know he is, and you know why I _can't_."

James shrugged. "Suit yourself," he said, turning back to Lily with a grin.

Remus quickly glanced across the hall before going back to his book.

* * *

Honey brushed her teeth with one hand, wand in the other working on her hair. She watched as the magic worked through the thick, curly tresses and smoothed them out into dark waves. Putting her wand on the counter, she spit out the toothpaste and finished brushing her teeth before grabbing two dark blue hair clips. It was almost second nature to twist the sides back from her face and pin the curls there on either side of her head. With that done, she grabbed her wand once more and excited the bathroom.

"I'll never understand how you can _do_ that so _fast_." One of the girls, Lidia, said as she passed, closing the bathroom door behind her.

Ignoring the noises of agreement from the other girls, she grabbed up her bag and stuffed a few textbooks in before leaving the dormitory. She made her way down the stairs carefully, waving a good morning to a few people she knew.

The halls were still fairly empty, seeing as breakfast wouldn't start for another five minutes yet. But it took ten minutes to get from the Ravenclaw dormitory to the dinning hall, so really she'd be right on time. She picked up snippets of conversations between the paintings hanging on the walls as she made her way briskly through the castle. Her shoes barely made any sound- she had cast a muffliato on them a few years back. There were few things she found more annoying than clacky shoes.

Exactly ten minutes later Honey pushed open the large doors, the smell of breakfast hitting her.

Her only 'friend' Ashlanne Greengrass waved her over to a spot next to her.

"Good morning." Honey said as she sat down.

"'Morning, _Honey_." Ashlanne said with a smile.

The brunette gave her a warning look as she took her bag off her shoulder and set it on the bench next to her.

"Has Flitwick passed out class schedules yet?" Honey asked, filling a bowl with porridge and berries.

"Not yet. He'll probably wait until more people show up." Casting a look down the empty table, Honey hummed in agreement.

"How was your summer?"

Ashlanne shrugged. "We went to America for a few weeks, but it really isn't all that great."

"No? My gran hardly ever stops talking about it. I think she's planning on taking us all as part of my graduation present this summer."

"Well she'll probably know the interesting places to go."

"Hm. Anyways, did you finish that book on transfiguration theory yet?" Honey asked, taking a bite of her food.

Ashlanne nodded. "It was a relatively easy read. I finished before we left on our trip."

"Indeed. I tried to lend my copy to Lidia, but she said she wouldn't have time for it. You'll have to tell her it's a short read. She doesn't often believe me about things like this."

"Yes, well, coming from the witch who once read _'The Things That Nobody Knows: 501 Mysteries of Life, the Universe, and Everything' _in two days." Ashlanne snorted and added more butter to her toast. "No wonder she doesn't trust your judgement."

Honey quirked her mouth in a half smile. "Fair enough."

The doors burst open, laughter echoing up to the ceiling charmed to look like the daybreak sky. Honey and Ashlanne sent identical scowls towards the boys entering, their conversation easy to hear from their spots.

"Seems like Peter had a better summer than the rest of us!" Sirius Black was saying as he slapped said boy on the back.

"I can't say I've been chased by an emu in Australia before, what about you, Moony?" James Potter said.

"Of course not." He replied.

Sirius stepped between Remus and James, throwing his arms around their shoulders as they reached their spots at the Gryffindor table. "No, but I bet _you_ could chase one and get away with it, eh?"

James and Peter roared with laughter as Remus shot his friend a look and sat down, the other three following suit.

"Hey, Evans!" James shouted.

"Goodness, won't he _ever_ learn?" Ashlanne said with a roll of her eyes. Honey looked away from the ridiculous boys and back to her friend. "Evans's _obviously_ not interested in him. It's like beating a dead hippogriff."

Honey shuddered. "Indeed."

Flitwick chose that moment to pass around class schedules and the girls patiently waited for their own slips.

"I have charms first. You?"

Honey nodded. "Yes, and then a double segment of advanced potions before lunch."

Ashlanne scrunched up her nose. "Bloody hell. I could barely stand a single segment of potions. Whatever flies your broom, I guess."

"And I don't understand how _you_ can still take care of magical creatures. I heard a third year nearly got her arm bitten off by a Thestral last year."

Ashlanne laughed. "Honey, most people can't even _see_ them, how could-"

"Exactly! It only makes them more dangerous. You can't even tell if you're walking right into one. It's impractical to have them around young children."

The blonde Ravenclaw shook her head. "I'll never begin to fathom your deep dislike for magical creatures, _Scamander_. How _ironic_."

"Yes, yes. My grandfather likes to remind me often. But nothing will change my mind- most, if not _all,_ magical creatures serve no purpose other than to maintain population control. I bet the Ministry is in charge of their production, in fact."

"Are you serious?" Ashlanne spluttered. "You can't truly believe that."

"Of course, I don't have _nearly_ enough proof on the matter yet. So don't tell anyone. I would like for the Ministry to stay in the dark of the fact that I'm onto them." Quickly finishing her food, Honey stood up. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm going to head to charms. Hopefully it'll be quieter there, and I'll be able to get back to my book."

"I'll come with!" Ashlanne hurriedly grabbed up her own bag and ran after Honey. "What are you reading now?"

"_'The Disappearing Spoon: And Other True Tales of Madness, Love, and the History of the World from the Periodic Table of the Elements.'_"

Ashlanne laughed gleefully. "Trying to understand _love_, now, are we?"

"Of course not. You know love can never be explained in a book. That would be simply implausible. It merely captured my attention, and I thought I'd give it a try."

Honey walked towards the classroom with Ashlanne chatting to no one in particular the whole way. She reminded her of her grandfather sometimes, the way she could prattle on and on about things, and her _unnatural_ liking towards magical creatures. Honey rolled her caramel eyes. What was it with people? Even if they weren't deadly, which they _were_, what was the point of them?

If there was one thing Honey Scamander disliked more than anything else, it was things that served no purpose.

* * *

Honey listened intently as Professor Flitwick instructed them on their project they would turn in at the end of semester. They were to be assigned a spell from their charms textbooks to perfect and then present on before everyone left for Christmas break. While on paper the assignment seemed easy enough, she figured it couldn't _really_ be that simple. They _were_ seventh years after all. They had to be ready for their N.E.W.T.S by the end of the year.

The bell rang and everyone started shoving textbooks into their bags before hurrying to their next class.

Honey dodged rowdy fifth years and lost first years- stopping to help a few of them as she went- on her way to the dungeons for her potions class. True to the Scamander name, she was filled with a burning passion for one specific subject which happened to take up most of her time. While it wasn't magical beasts like her grandfather had hoped, he did say that potions was an honorary field of study. Which, of course, led to her room back home being filled with jars of ingredients and cauldrons, most with holes worn through them from her more… _corrosive_ experiments.

She walked into Professor Slughorn's classroom feeling immensely smug, knowing the little scoreboard from last year would still be up on the chalkboard, as Slughorn had insisted. Within the first few months of their sixth year advanced potions class, a Hufflepuff boy had had the idea to keep a tally of points between Honey and Severus Snape, the only other student in Hogwarts who was matched to the Scamander girl in the subject. They had finished the end of the year with Honey in the lead by fourteen points, and she doubted that Snape had been able to beat her in one measly class-

"_What?!_" She exclaimed as she stopped dead inside the doorway. "_325?_ What the bloody hell is this rubbish? Have you all gone _daft_? Clearly this is a mistake, there is no _possible_ way that Snape was able to- where is that absolute git? When I-"

She was interrupted by someone snickering and whipped around to see Potter and Black giggling like two little school girls behind their hands.

"I don't know why you're laughing. I don't even know how you two got into this class. It's a bunch of bullocks, if you ask me."

"Now, now, Scamander. No need to get you knickers in a knot. We know you're only upset that you can't have potions with us, seeing how insanely-"

"Bigoted and foolish you are? No thank you." Honey said, cutting Sirius off with a sharp look down her nose. She may have been, _dear Merlin_, a half-foot shorter than him, but that by no means chilled the glare she was imposing on him at that moment. "Now, if you'll get out of my way, I have a score to beat."

Maneuvering around the three boys, as Lupin was there are well (unsurprisingly, Peter was _not_), Honey stormed to her desk in the middle, two rows back from the front and sat down, pulling out her necessary materials.

"325 points my arse. We'll see who's the real expert, just you wait."

James and Sirius looked at each other with matching grins as they left, an idea brewing better than their potion had not even twenty minutes ago.

"Say, I think we should ask Scamander to join us in our campaign against Snape." James said excitedly, throwing an arm around Sirius.

Sirius, in turn, threw his arm around James as well. "I dare say that is a _genius_ idea, Prongs. Think of the new pranks we could throw at him with help from the potions master herself."

Remus shook his head. "I don't think that's a… Good idea."

"Oh come on, Moons." James groaned. "Why not? Must you always crush our hopes and dreams?" Sirius and James put their hands to their foreheads before dramatically slumping to the floor.

"She clearly hates you both. I doubt she'd be willing."

"Perhaps he's right." Sirius said sadly.

"Shame. We would have been _unstoppable_. Think of the power- the tales they'd tell of us!"

"The Marauders and the Potioneer!" Sirius and James sighed wistfully before pulling each other up and heading off to their next class.

* * *

"I think we should ask her anyways." James whispered during their transfiguration class. "She already hates us, so it's not like we could make it any worse. There's no harm in it."

"_Allegedly_." Sirius said, flipping his hand over and back. "But yes, I think you're quite right, Prongs. She could be _detrimental_ in this war we've concocted with that slimy git."

James nodded resolutely, the two with their minds firmly set.

Remus, who had overheard, frowned.


	2. Chapter 2

"You want me to join your- your little band of 'Marauders' in a war against Severus Snape?" Honey asked, arms crossed and a single eyebrow sketched high.

"Yes. With your immense skills in potions we would be near invincible. Think of it this way- You get to spend more time experimenting with potions, and thus growing your talent even more, and we get to continue our grand cause!"

She hummed and thought about it. "That does sound… Rather enjoyable."

The boys shared an excited look.

"But no."

"What?!" They exclaimed. "But you just said-!"

"I know what I said, Black. But I don't intend to have a letter sent home to my grandparents, so I am going to decline."

James and Sirius shared an incredulous look before pushing further between the two Ravenclaws sitting at the dinner table.

"Look, Scamander, you wouldn't even _see_ the front lines." Sirius said.

"You'll be our scientist who stays in the lab all the time." James added.

"Maybe comes out later to finally defeat the villain in some smokin' red dress-"

"_Sirius_!" James yelled, cuffing him on the back of the head. "You're not helping!" They looked back to the Ravenclaw to see her sitting there with an unimpressed look on her face.

"Are you quite done yet?" She said.

"Alright, forget everything we've said so far. What can we do to win your assistance, _Honey_?" Sirius asked, giving her his best smolder.

"Not that, that's for sure." She said, flicking her hair over her shoulder.

"What do you want, Scamander? Do you want us to beg? We can beg." James said, clasping his hands together and putting on his kicked kitten look.

She raised an eyebrow once more. "Begging is pointless. Don't belittle yourselves by wasting all of our time."

"Oh my Merlin, _anything_, Scamander. We'll do anything."

* * *

"_'We'll do anything'_? James, you're _stupid_." Sirius said.

"Relax. We'll be fine. We've done worse stuff before." James said, shifting around potions, looking for the right one. "Slughorn has so many bottles in here, he'll never notice it's missing."

"What does Scamander need a shrinking potion for, anyways? Couldn't she just make her own?"

James shrugged. "Who cares? If we want her help then we just gotta find this potion and bring it to her."

Sirius rolled his eyes. "This room _reeks_, mate."

"So stop talking and help me find this potion."

"How do you even know that Slughorn has one made up already?" Sirius hissed.

"I don't, but Scamander seemed pretty sure that it'd be in here." James said, grabbing another potion to look behind it. "Hey! I found it!"

"Wonderful, now let's scram. Why you didn't think to bring the cloak is _beyond_ me, honestly-"

"Hello, gentlemen. Care to tell me what you were doing in my potions storeroom?" Slughorn asked, hands holding onto his suspender straps.

James and Sirius cringed, slowly turning to look at their professor.

"Well, you see Professor-"

"We wanted to see if you had a shrinking potion-"

"For Peter-"

"For Peter, _of course,_ for his uh- uh-"

"Toe. He's got this nasty hex on it, and it's swollen to the size of a balloon-"

"You mean a quaffle."

"Yes, yes, the size of a quaffle. And see, Professor, we didn't wanna bother such a _busy_ man like yourself, so we thought we would just borrow a potion and tell you in class."

The boys waited for Slughorn to respond, but were surprised to see Honey round the corner behind him with a smug look on her face.

"Ah, so I _was_ correct, then. I thought I heard someone in there." They stared at her in shock for selling them out, after telling them to do it in the first place.

"Yes, Miss Scamander. It seems they were trying to pilfer a shrinking potion from my stores." Slughorn said disapprovingly.

"A shrinking potion?" She asked innocently. "Whatever would they want with _that_?"

"Apparently, it was for Mr. Pettigrew's toe that's been hexed to the size of a quaffle."

Honey pulled a face that looked as if she had just sucked on a lemon. "Terrible."

"Indeed. But-" He said, turning back to the boys. "You ought to have taken him to Madame Pomfrey instead; Twenty points from Gryffindor and I expect to see you in my room for detention the rest of the week." With that, Slughorn snatched the potion from James' hand and stalked back into his storeroom, snapping the door shut behind him.

James groaned as Sirius turned to Honey with a glare.

"Why'd you rat us out like that? Where's you potion now, huh?"

She grinned at them. "I wanted to make sure my name wouldn't come up if you two got caught with a potion I made for you. I was testing your promise of staying, as you said, '_The scientist who stays in the lab all the time._'"

James looked at her with raised eyebrows.

"So does that mean we passed?"

"Considering I'm not stuck in detention all week like you fools, yes."

"Wonderful!" Sirius said. "But you could have done something that didn't result in us getting detention."

Honey shrugged. "It was an easy test. You two are in detention so much anyways that I'm sure it'll barely make a drop in the bucket."

"She's not wrong." James laughed, punching his mate in the arm.

"Alright, Scamander." Sirius said with a lopsided grin, grabbing her around the shoulders and leading her down the hall. "Let's talk about these potions of yours."


	3. Chapter3

James cleared his throat. "I would like to welcome our newest member- not a Marauder because she's a girl, and that's simply not allowed- Honey Scamander!"

Sirius, Peter, and Remus clapped, hooted, and hollered. Remus less enthusiastically than the other two but Honey could tell he was more sincere so she ignored it.

"With the addition of this potioneer extraordinaire, our pranking of one Snivellus Snape will skyrocket, while his pride will plummet." James turned to her with a smile, sweeping his arm over the old podium in the empty classroom they had stolen for their 'Top Secret Marauder (and co.) meetings.' "Miss Scamander, would you like to say a few words to your new potion administrating crew?"

Honey rolled her eyes but couldn't help the grin that crossed her face. She walked over and took Potter's spot behind the podium, facing the four eagerly waiting boys.

"First, I want to thank you all for this… Once in a lifetime opportunity," she said, grinning wider as they all clapped and nodded. "I would also like to thank my wonderful grandparents, Newton and Porpentina Scamander, for buying me countless cauldrons and ingredients, and allowing me to blow up their attic a few times every summer." The boys laughed loudly at this, even Remus adding actual volume to the room for once. "But most of all, I want to thank Snivellus Snape for giving me the reason to become as great as I am and bringing us all together."

James and Sirius burst from their chairs with excessive applause and high-pitched whistles. Peter looked at them with wide eyes before grinning- almost maniacally- and following along. Sirius pulled Remus from his seat where he was applauding politely and grabbed his hands, making loud, staggered claps for him.

James took his spot back as Honey went and sat down in his chair, on the other side of Remus. She could have sworn he tensed and shifted away, but as she didn't particularly care if others liked her or not, she forgot about it the next second.

(Remus _had_, in fact, shifted away and he most _certainly_ didn't forget about it the moment after.) "Thank you, Miss Scamander, for that moving speech. I'm sure many tears were shed-" there he paused as Sirius and Peter sniffled and wiped away each others fake tears. "Now that that is over, it's time to talk about the rules before we move on to the brainstorming. Remus, our scribe, will be writing those down on copies for each party member. The breaking of any of these rules is not allowed and will be punished as the innocent party sees fit."

The four seventh years nodded in understanding as Remus pulled out parchment and a long quill.

"First- no one is to know of the affiliation between a one Miss Scamander and The Marauders." The only noise as James continued was the scratching of Remus' quill against the rough parchment.

"Two- Any potion made by Miss Scamander must be written in a log and thoroughly explained to each Marauder, administrating the potion or not. Third- No potion made by the aforementioned potioneer should result in more than a weeks' [five days] detentions for the Marauders involved. The fourth rule is no marauder is to give away Miss Scamander's involvement, thus resulting in detentions to the lovely lady's clean record." James paused. "Anything else?"

Sirius' hand flew into the air.

"Yes, Padfoot?" James asked.

"How about, 'No Marauder is allowed to be physically involved with a one Miss Scamander?"

Even Remus' scratching went silent at this. Honey made a noise of disgusted shock and leaned forward to glare at the longer haired wizard.

"_Excuse me!" _She exclaimed.

"What?" He asked defensively. "It wouldn't be fair. Plus, it might damage the inner workings of the party."

"I'm not writing that down on paper," Remus said.

"Thank you. Sirius, you have no need to worry. I'm not one of those other tarts. I can promise that won't happen, written rule or not."

James awkwardly banged his fist on the podium to get their attention.

"Any other rules?"

Honey raised her hand. "I want at least a week's notice for any requested potion, plus the needed brewing time."

James nodded and motioned for Remus to add it. "Anything else?"

Peter squeaked and excitedly raised his hand.

"Yes, Wormtail?"

"We should make Honey a nickname!"

Sirius hummed and stroked his chin. Peter looked between the rest of them with a hopeful grin. Honey wasn't yet sure if his constant desire to please his friends was annoying or endearing.

"I don't know…" Remus said.

James and SIrius looked as if they might agree, and Peter's face fell a bit. "O-Oh."

Honey raised a hand in a calming gesture. "Seeing as I am not a Marauder, only in cohorts, I think it is a nice idea but unnecessary. Thank you, Peter, but we don't want people to get suspicious, thus breaking rule number one."

Peter seemed soothed with her polite decline of his offer. He looked quite relieved to not be shot down by his friends and Honey felt momentarily bad for him. But then she didn't, because she was Honey Scamander and didn't believe in pity over people who always searched for acceptance. It wasn't her problem, and therefore she wouldn't worry about it.

"Well said, Miss Scamander." James said, gaining back the conversation. "Last call- anything else?"

"Oh, I think all potions should be tested first, to make sure they aren't dangerous," Remus said.

"I test all my potions, but we might as well write it down anyways, just in case." Honey mused.

"How do you test them?" Peter asked.

"I configure quills or other odd items into rats, or something," Honey said, rotating her hand in a slow circle motion.

"Animals?" Remus asked. "Isn't that- Isn't that cruel?"  
Honey raised a brow at the normally well spoken boy.

"No? What would you rather me use? A first year?"

He spluttered. "No! Of course not! It's just- it's mistreatment."

Honey sighed. "How do you think every last potioneer tests their potions? Or new spells? They're not _real_ animals, Lupin. They can't feel it. Surely this isn't news to you."

An embarrassed blush spread across his nose, prompting the thick, white scar to be more prominent. "No," he grumbled, turning back to his parchment.

Shocked at his cold shoulder and hurt reaction, Honey turned to James, who shrugged back at her.

"Well. Now that rules are settled, let's get to prank planning, shall we?"

(--)

By the time Honey left the classroom-turned-meeting-room, she had a long list of potions ideas and only twenty minutes left of dinner.

She rushed down to the Great Hall, fixing her tie and jumper from her jog there before entering.

She passed the Hufflepuff table on her way to her spot to say hello to her brother and check in with him.

"Have you written home yet?" She asked.

Arlen laughed. "No. Nothing exciting has happened. What would I say, 'Hello dearest grandparents. I hope it will please you that I haven't been causing trouble, and Honey has yet to blow up the potions room or her dormmates'?"

Honey scowled. "It was three years ago, and I didn't blow her up." She stuck her nose in the air and crossed her arms. "It only scorched the tip of her nose."

"And her eyebrows," her brother snorted.

Honey rolled her eyes and bid him good day before heading to her own house table and hurriedly shoveling soup and biscuits into her mouth before dinner ended.


	4. Chapter4

Honey made her way over to the Ravenclaw tower after dinner, potion ingredient possibilities running through her head. She had a list folded up and tucked away in her bra of prank ideas that needed new potions created specifically for them. Of course, she could make any number of potions that had been previously discovered and written down, but there was no point. They wouldn't be nearly as exciting or shocking, and would provide a minimal amount of practice for her.

Honey trailed her hand across the stones as she went up the long spiral staircase. Finally she reached the door to the common room with the bronze eagle knocker.

She reached forward to knock on the door.

"Feed me and I live, yet give me a drink and I die."

Honey thought for a second. "Fire."

The eagle fell still once more as the door opened.

Honey gave the blue drapes and star covered floor no attention as she strided towards the stairwell to the dormitories. Seven flights of stairs circling the common room later, she pushed the door open to her dorm and threw her bag on her bed.

"Where were you?" Ashlanne asked, looking up from her book.

"Library. I was looking at some potion ingredient books."

Ashlanne pushed herself up onto her knees. "I'm not surprised." A smile spread across her lips, "Are you going to burn off Madeline's eyebrows again?"

Honey gave her a stern look. "No, I'm not."

Ashlanne giggled. "Why not? I think she could use another knock off that high hippogriff of hers."

Honey upended her bag onto her bed. "Even so, potions aren't used for blowing people up." A pause. "Usually. There's a spell for that."

"Alright, alright. It was just an idea." Ashlanne rolled off her bed and padded over to Honey as she picked up her little leather bound notebook used for note taking while trying to come up with the perfect recipes for potions.

"So what _are_ you trying to do?"

"Well…" How to explain this without giving away everything she wasn't allowed to give away.

"It's just a _test_, of sorts. Extra hard practice. There's a potion for dreamless sleep, so how about one for sleepless nightmares?"

Ashlanne took a step back. "Woah. Honey, that's… That's kind of… Fricken' evil. And creepy as hell."

Honey cast her eyes to the tan rug on the floor, tracing the paths the planets were making around the dimly glowing sun.

"I know. I just want to see if I can actually manage a potion as difficult as this."

A sincere, worried look crossed her friend's face.

"What if it… falls into the- the wrong hands?"

Thoughts of the steadily growing group of evil wizards led by someone calling themselves 'Lord Voldemort' flashed through her mind.

Honey shook her head vehemently. "It won't. I won't let it."

Ashlanne sighed. "If you say so. Just be careful, Honey. Someone like Lord Voldemort would probably do anything to get his hands on a potion like that- much less the woman who was able to pull the makings out of thin air. I care _a lot _about you and I don't want to see you get hurt."

Honey wet her lips and sucked in a shaky breath.

"I'll be careful."

…

Honey yawned and pushed her hair back from her face. The spell she had put on it that morning had well worn off by then, mostly due to the steam rising from her cauldron. She sighed before throwing her quill down and rotating her head, cringing at the resulting pops.

She took another look at her cauldron before deciding she wasn't going to get any farther and it was time to call it a night. Honey crossed off the latest failed ingredient before using her wand to stabilize the potion and send everything else back into the trunk at the end of her bed. It was only her first try- she often never succeeded on her first try. It's what made it fun; made her think harder. Really, it wasn't a surprise that she was placed in Ravenclaw.

Another yawn forced its way out as she placed her wand on her side table and flopped back onto her pile of pillows.

Eventually she lost track of how many hours passed before she finally fell asleep.

…

It was a very tired Honey who dropped into a back row seat (for the first time in her _life_) in her first transfiguration class of the year.

"Miss Scamander," Professor McGonagall said, "I'm sure the summer wasn't too long for you to forget we have assigned seats in this class."

Honey groaned under her breath before dragging herself out of her seat.

McGonagall's face was warm and amused as she pointed her to her correct seat; second row, second seat back from the front.

"Did you even try to get any sleep last night?" The professor asked with a teasing, motherly tone to her voice.

"I did try, Professor. I just can't ever sleep."

McGonagall directed a few more students to their seats before turning back to the bleary eyed Ravenclaw.

"Have you talked to Madame Pomfrey yet?"

Honey nodded as the older witch checked her seating chart. She rubbed her eyes and shrugged. "Not this year."

McGonagall nodded in understanding before walking off to separate rowdy fifth years in the hall. Someone sat down next to Honey, causing her to slowly peel her eyes open to peek out the corner of her eye.

She sighed in relief at the sight of her table partner. "Hello, Lupin."

It was widely known that Professor McGonagall liked to match the smarter, more behaved students with students of opposite demeanor in hopes they would help keep them in check. Not that McGonagall couldn't keep a whole army in check single-handedly.

Remus froze for a moment before nodding once in acknowledgement.

Honey raised an eyebrow. "It's not breaking rule number one for transfiguration partners to say hello," she said, mostly teasing.

Remus seemed to take in a deep breath before turning to face her.

"Hello, Scamander."

Honey grinned before pillowing her arms on her bag, and laying her head down.

"Are… Are you alright?" Remus asked cautiously.

Honey turned her head to face him, cracking open an eye. "Just tired."

"Oh." He said, fidgeting with his quill and ink.

"Are _you_ alright?" She asked in return at his restless demeanor.

He nodded jerkily. "Fine."

Honey shrugged and closed her eyes again. Remus Lupin's awkward air wasn't any of her concern, at least, not now.

"Miss Scamander, head up, please."

She had bigger problems to deal with at the moment.


End file.
